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[THE IMPORTANCE OF THE MOSCOW ART THEATRE] Obshchestvennoye znacheniye MKHT [i.e. Social Importance of Moscow Art Theatre]

Kogan, P.

Item #2104

Moscow: Teakinopechat’, 1929. 34, [2] pp.: ill. 12.7x16.6 cm. In original publisher’s wrapper. Loss of the pieces of the spine. Otherwise in a very good condition.

Scarce. First edition. 1 of 4,000 copies.
Wrapper design by Nikolay Rogachev (1890-1953), a Soviet graphic artist, theatre artist, and pedagogue. As a theatre artist, his first work, the scenery for the plays Bespredannitsa [i.e. The Beside Woman] and Pozhar Moskvy [i.e. The Fire of Moscow] appeared in 1912 in the theatre at the factory of L. Rabenek (Shchelkovo).
In the next two years, in the summer months, he served as a decorator at the theatre of N. Popov near St. Petersburg, where he made the scenery for the play "Tartuffe". Rogachev collaborated with MTYUZ, Music Hall, and State Circus. As an artist, he traveled with the State Kharkov Red Banner Theatre to Vladivostok (1927-1928), where he staged a number of productions with the director Yu. Sobolev. Rogachev’s work in book design is lesser-known.

Printed in 1929, this edition deals with the topic of the social importance of the Moscow Art Theatre (MKHT) during revolutionary struggle. The author, Russian literary historian Piotr Kogan (1872-1932), emphasizes the role of the Moscow Art Theatre in strengthening the anti-tsarist wave and argues that if it were not for the theatre, “then much in the mentality of people who lived in one of the most difficult eras that preceded the great revolution would have escaped the gaze of the researcher and would remain gloomy”.
The book underlines the idea of the theatre fighting hand in hand with the revolutionaries for the collapse of the outdated political and social order. According to Kogan, this fight was reflected in the repertoire of the theatre, which gradually started including works of Ibsen, Maeterlink, Pshibishevsky, Chekhov, Knut Hamsun, Leonid Andreev, and altered plays by Ostrovsky, Shakespeare, and Schiller. The author also underlines the immense contribution of Konstantin Stanislavsky (1863-1938), a cofounder of the Moscow Art Theatre and one of the leading theatre directors of his generation, whose plays Kogan perceived as a tool for fighting philistinism. In conclusion, the author sums up: "The theatre walked along the path alongside the entire Russian society, suffered from its torment, suffered its doubts, survived our difficult days and went out on the right and clear path together with its native country."
The edition is supplemented with 5 black and white illustrations showing the Russian actress Maria Andreeva and the actor Georgy Burdzhalov in the Sunken Bell (premiere 19 October 1898, directed by Stanislavsky and Sanin, set design by Viktor Simov), the first act of the play Dyadya Vanya [i.e. Uncle Ivan] (premiere 26 October 1898, directed by Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko, set design by Simov), etc. Piotr Kogan was a Russian and Soviet literary historian and critic, translator, and the Head of the State Academy of Arts (1921-1925). After graduating from the Historical and Philological Faculty of Moscow University, Kogan moved to St. Petersburg and became Privat-Associate Professor of the Department of Germanic-Romance Philology of St. Petersburg University in 1911-1918. At different times, he collaborated with such periodicals as Russkaya Mysl’ [i.e. Russian Thought], Russkoye slovo [i.e. Russian Word], Kur’yer [i.e. Courier], etc. Kogan is the author of several articles in the New Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron and in the first edition of the Great Soviet Encyclopedia.

Worldcat shows copies of the edition at Harvard University, Library of Congress, and University of Washington Libraries.

Price: $450.00

Status: On Hold